Coated Stents
The use of stents to hold open the lumens of blood vessels has become quite widespread. Although stents are recognized as being useful for holding open occluded blood vessels, including occluded coronary arteries, the successful use of stents is limited to a certain degree. For example, a significant degree of restenosis, inflammation, and cardiovascular disorders result from stent implantation.
Currently, attempts to improve the clinical performance of stents have involved some variation of either applying a coating to the metal of the stent (as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,433, entitled, “Biocompatible metal surfaces” and U.S. Pat. No. 5,336,518, entitled, “Treatment of metallic surfaces using radiofrequency plasma deposition and chemical attachment of bioactive agents”, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference), attaching a covering or membrane, embedding material on the surface of the stent via ion bombardment, or including reservoirs in the design of the stent. In addition, certain therapeutic agents such as rapamycin or heparin are coated on stents.
One area in which stents are limited is with respect to inflammation that occurs at the lesion site. It would be useful in the field of stents to provide a stent that contains a therapeutic agent that control, reduce, or prevent restenosis, inflammation, and cardiovascular complications associated with stent implantation and/or cardiovascular disease.
Also encompassed in the invention is a method of treating a subject including providing a stent containing a MAP kinase inhibitor such as p38 kinase inhibitor to a subject.